Dirt detection is important for many different applications such as systems with the objective to restore cleanliness; an example is automatic car wash systems. For automatic car wash systems, several factors play in to cleaning the surface of a vehicle such as the type, size and the amount of dirt present on the surface of a vehicle. Currently, automatic car wash systems, such as roll over wash systems, include a moving gantry equipped with wash equipment that travels on tracks on a floor or building walls and moves about a stationary vehicle applying soaps, cleaners, waxes and rinses. Other automatic car wash systems, such as tunnel or conveyor washes, use push or pull equipment to move a vehicle through wash equipment disposed within the tunnel. Positioning the vehicle and appropriately allocating cleaning resources, such as soap and water, to the different areas of the vehicle is paramount to delivering the cleanest vehicle possible back to the consumer.